Bitter-sweet thesis

As a useful start for those who are about to begin their thesis, Rookie brings you suggestions about what makes a good thesis, presented by Assoc Professor Chairat Charoensin-o-larn at the seminar "Pathway to make a good thesis" organised by the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University.

Chairat said that for him a thesis that is only understandable when read does not count as a good one. The writer must create it in a well-written style, making the committee want to follow up and read it from the first page to the end.

He said this was because "a thesis is a kind of art-created work, which the writer has to make very interesting and attractive.

"There are so many books in the world that we can choose to read, but if you pick up a book to read and find that its first one or two pages are arid and boring, will you continue to read it?" said the PhD graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In the academic world it is useless to conduct research on a topic that other people have already done. Writing a thesis is the same.

"Try to select a topic that nobody has ever worked on before. It would be great if the writer could pick a subject that many people thought was impossible to develop as a thesis, but you could," he said.

For example, Chairat said there once was a thesis about lavatories and sanitaryware in Thai history.

"Lavatories are not an academic topic that that all academicians are going to have a dispute over, but once it became a thesis, this stresses the remarkable aptitude of the writer."

Apart from only writing about a new topic, a good thesis must also have some impact on the world.

"What I mean by having an impact is that the thesis must have the potential to be published as an academic book," said Chairat. "On the other hand, such a thesis must not just be bound and put on the shelf waiting for dust alone to come and read it."

Moreover, a thesis must work as a stimulator to create an argument among academics.

"To make it simple, something must grow out of the thesis. It might be a new discipline for people to study or it might be new knowledge that overthrows the old beliefs of most people."

A good thesis must present a clear stance from the writer about his or her view on the topic. As Chairat said, "There is no space for any compromise here, in any thesis."

For example, if "A" writes a thesis about an argument that "B" made which had an impact on "X" or "Y", "A" must express in crystal-clear terms whether he or she takes the side of "X" or "Y".

"It's not a thesis if the writer is still not sure about what they believe and want to present. Their job when writing a thesis is to collect every piece of information and defend it," said Chairat, who was the first director of the doctoral programme in Political Science at Thammasat University.

Watchara Saengsrisin